Manzar, the Scientific Journal in Landscape, Jan 1, 2023
The beach of the city, known as Port is called Bandar in the Persian language. There are two narr... more The beach of the city, known as Port is called Bandar in the Persian language. There are two narrations attributed to it in this language: The first one, with transliteration of Bondar, in which kind of stuff is placed (according to Dehkhoda Lexicon), and second composed of ‘Band’ (enclosed), and ‘Dar ‘(door) means a pond-like enclosed area with a gate. The word "Bandar" entered the Arabic language with the plural form of "Banader" which means ports. In Hindi and Indonesian, there is a similar word called Bandargah, which points to the harbor. There are several ports around the world whose names are composed of Bandar. Coastal life is highly influenced by the sea. For coastal inhabitants, the sea is the origin of life and meaning. For those who live by the sea, the landscape of the sea is the reason for the existence of the city and motivation for its survival. The living connection with the sea is the secret of this landscape. The emerging point of these two entities is the borderline between the city and the sea; however, their relationship is expanded to all aspects of life, including: culture, architecture, food, occupation, religion, economy, and society. If living condition depends on the presence of the sea, it is not far-fetched to be the source of other inspirations as well. The sign and symbols, and the representation of human interaction with the nature of the sea appear at the border of their connection, which is the port, and its landscape is the representative of this connection; The port cities and villages have created the compound and complicated emerged relations at this borderline, which according to the local people all these manifestations together are all called ports. On the other hand, with the expansion of urbanization and the growth of port trade, together with the facility services, the part of the whole port which was allocated to the warehouses and transportation facilities, abruptly became the owner of this historical and cultural concept of human civilization. The growth of bureaucracy and the power of central government caused the formation of the 'Ports and Shipping Organization' in the country, which by ignoring the public rights and the cultural heritage of the ports, just relying on the organizational interests and taking advantage of the power, controlled the vital edge of this coastline, and dispossessed the citizens of this unique inspiration source and the reason behind the establishment of their city.
Although, the port is a representative of the past and future interactions with the sea, not just a commercial task, the 'Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran' established a strong barrier around its entity to commit to the law, which was not according to the public advantages, but just to meet the partial interests of some groups; it was in a situation where this barrier affected the contact area used to be presented between the city and the sea. To experience the sea, people had to exit the city limits. The extent of damaging this borderline gradually increased, as the sea area was also occupied. Pushing back the sea has become so popular as a creative method under the title of 'land fill' or 'land reclamation'. The authorities tried to manage it extensively and make a 'shoreline retreat' by attracting more funds and moving landward, to get new areas for their activity. This procedure is also imitated by the municipality of port cities in moving seashores. At the far end of the beach, a high wall is built, and by filling the space behind it, a platform overlooking the sea is constructed to consider it as a land area added to the city land. These measures adversely affect people's feeling attached to the sea when they used to experience walking on the beach sands to let the water waves touch their feet. The actions pull people back from 'the sea' area to the 'offshore'; it looks like the authorities are unaware of the damage to the landscape, which used to be the source of inspiration for the residents. The protection of marine civilization is highly dependent on the long-term interaction between humans and the sea. It is not appropriate to extensively occupy the environment, whether willingly or unwillingly, just by exploiting engineering methods.
The journal cover image shows 'Chābahār Port', which represents the active nature of the port, its access way on the coastal edge, and the vast areas dedicated to the port dock. All these actions are interventions in the historical and natural edge of the contact area, between the city and the sea, like a barrier prevents the continuity of the citizens' perception of their land. The material achievements arising from invading this precious gem in exchange for losing opportunities for expanding civilization and continuity of identity are so insignificant that they seem negligible in the macro economy of society.
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As one of Iran's historical cities, Mashhad emerged in the 3rd century AH on the outskirts of the Toos and Tabaran villages. The development and expansion of Mashhad throughout history have always been affected by the town's religious center (the holy shrine of Imam Reza ). During the city's development, the sacred shrine of Imam Reza played a decisive role in how the city's spatial organization was formed and changed. Since Mashhad's formation, urban development has always originated in the central zone. Consequently, a cohesive and homogeneous relationship with the surrounding environment has been a characteristic of holy shrines during the urban development. The city constituents always served this place, such as neighborhoods and access roads. Since the Safavid era, the continuous organic relationship between the center and other Mashhad Urban Spatial Organization components has been broken due to fundamental changes in urban development plans and governmental interventions, which this study try to clarify.
This study seeks to conduct a historical-analytical investigation of how Mashhad's broad foundation formed, changed, and contributed to the destruction of Mashhad's urban identity community within the region's constituent parts, including its center, structure, neighborhoods, and urban realm.
The huge presence of coral reefs, Marjan, neither provides suitable agricultural land, nor even a flat space for building houses. Therefore, there are small houses in a dense village space. However, the land owner is quite satisfied with this affluence business condition, which is resulting from the natural depth of the water at the bottom of the coral reef, which let them establish a luxurious architecture, as the dominant architecture of Laft is iconic to its wind-catcher, central courtyards, and handling air circulation and the wind flowing in the rooms and courtyards, as a symbol of Qeshm Island, which along with the architecture of Bushehr City and Sana'a, is reminiscent of the ‘Persian Gulf’ and the Gulf of Oman. This advantage is also due to the blessing presence of the coral reef. The coral reef by having natural cavities inside it, besides resisting water force, has a function like a sponge, which store huge amount of water among its tiny saclike cavities. This property, in addition to the existence of possible hidden cavities, provides an indefinite source of water storage. Supposing a barrier between the coral reef and the water salt to prevent its permeation into the depth of the reef, let coral reef to stop water permeation, and the holes in the rock be a good source of water desalination. It is supposed to be the exact happening in Telo wells, somewhere inside the coral reef and on the upper edge of the dense and integrated texture of the village, which is protected by the residents and their persistent culture for ages. The upper third of the coral reef is the watershed area of the Laft region. The monsoon rains falling on the rock are finally trapped inside the rock holes are the handmade water reservoir of the village and penetrated the coral reef through numerous shallow and deep wells to be preserved there. Some of this water is transferred into the reservoir ponds after purification for early use by the residents. The water well once functions as a water reservoir of the village, but in the warm months of the year, the residents draw this water by buckets and ropes, and gradually lead the reserves of tiny coral holes to the original head of the well. The dual function of Telo wells, sometimes as a water reservoir and sometimes as a water well has turned them into the most attractive landscape of the village, along with the coral reefs, as the origin of the Laft area. It is believed that the Laft village is identical to coral reefs and Telo wells. The other manifestations of the village appear in photos and architecture, are arising from these two fundamental stones of the life and survival of the village. This continues only if the water softener system does not disturb this natural ecosystem.
Although, the port is a representative of the past and future interactions with the sea, not just a commercial task, the 'Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran' established a strong barrier around its entity to commit to the law, which was not according to the public advantages, but just to meet the partial interests of some groups; it was in a situation where this barrier affected the contact area used to be presented between the city and the sea. To experience the sea, people had to exit the city limits. The extent of damaging this borderline gradually increased, as the sea area was also occupied. Pushing back the sea has become so popular as a creative method under the title of 'land fill' or 'land reclamation'. The authorities tried to manage it extensively and make a 'shoreline retreat' by attracting more funds and moving landward, to get new areas for their activity. This procedure is also imitated by the municipality of port cities in moving seashores. At the far end of the beach, a high wall is built, and by filling the space behind it, a platform overlooking the sea is constructed to consider it as a land area added to the city land. These measures adversely affect people's feeling attached to the sea when they used to experience walking on the beach sands to let the water waves touch their feet. The actions pull people back from 'the sea' area to the 'offshore'; it looks like the authorities are unaware of the damage to the landscape, which used to be the source of inspiration for the residents. The protection of marine civilization is highly dependent on the long-term interaction between humans and the sea. It is not appropriate to extensively occupy the environment, whether willingly or unwillingly, just by exploiting engineering methods.
The journal cover image shows 'Chābahār Port', which represents the active nature of the port, its access way on the coastal edge, and the vast areas dedicated to the port dock. All these actions are interventions in the historical and natural edge of the contact area, between the city and the sea, like a barrier prevents the continuity of the citizens' perception of their land. The material achievements arising from invading this precious gem in exchange for losing opportunities for expanding civilization and continuity of identity are so insignificant that they seem negligible in the macro economy of society.
As one of Iran's historical cities, Mashhad emerged in the 3rd century AH on the outskirts of the Toos and Tabaran villages. The development and expansion of Mashhad throughout history have always been affected by the town's religious center (the holy shrine of Imam Reza ). During the city's development, the sacred shrine of Imam Reza played a decisive role in how the city's spatial organization was formed and changed. Since Mashhad's formation, urban development has always originated in the central zone. Consequently, a cohesive and homogeneous relationship with the surrounding environment has been a characteristic of holy shrines during the urban development. The city constituents always served this place, such as neighborhoods and access roads. Since the Safavid era, the continuous organic relationship between the center and other Mashhad Urban Spatial Organization components has been broken due to fundamental changes in urban development plans and governmental interventions, which this study try to clarify.
This study seeks to conduct a historical-analytical investigation of how Mashhad's broad foundation formed, changed, and contributed to the destruction of Mashhad's urban identity community within the region's constituent parts, including its center, structure, neighborhoods, and urban realm.
The huge presence of coral reefs, Marjan, neither provides suitable agricultural land, nor even a flat space for building houses. Therefore, there are small houses in a dense village space. However, the land owner is quite satisfied with this affluence business condition, which is resulting from the natural depth of the water at the bottom of the coral reef, which let them establish a luxurious architecture, as the dominant architecture of Laft is iconic to its wind-catcher, central courtyards, and handling air circulation and the wind flowing in the rooms and courtyards, as a symbol of Qeshm Island, which along with the architecture of Bushehr City and Sana'a, is reminiscent of the ‘Persian Gulf’ and the Gulf of Oman. This advantage is also due to the blessing presence of the coral reef. The coral reef by having natural cavities inside it, besides resisting water force, has a function like a sponge, which store huge amount of water among its tiny saclike cavities. This property, in addition to the existence of possible hidden cavities, provides an indefinite source of water storage. Supposing a barrier between the coral reef and the water salt to prevent its permeation into the depth of the reef, let coral reef to stop water permeation, and the holes in the rock be a good source of water desalination. It is supposed to be the exact happening in Telo wells, somewhere inside the coral reef and on the upper edge of the dense and integrated texture of the village, which is protected by the residents and their persistent culture for ages. The upper third of the coral reef is the watershed area of the Laft region. The monsoon rains falling on the rock are finally trapped inside the rock holes are the handmade water reservoir of the village and penetrated the coral reef through numerous shallow and deep wells to be preserved there. Some of this water is transferred into the reservoir ponds after purification for early use by the residents. The water well once functions as a water reservoir of the village, but in the warm months of the year, the residents draw this water by buckets and ropes, and gradually lead the reserves of tiny coral holes to the original head of the well. The dual function of Telo wells, sometimes as a water reservoir and sometimes as a water well has turned them into the most attractive landscape of the village, along with the coral reefs, as the origin of the Laft area. It is believed that the Laft village is identical to coral reefs and Telo wells. The other manifestations of the village appear in photos and architecture, are arising from these two fundamental stones of the life and survival of the village. This continues only if the water softener system does not disturb this natural ecosystem.
Although, the port is a representative of the past and future interactions with the sea, not just a commercial task, the 'Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran' established a strong barrier around its entity to commit to the law, which was not according to the public advantages, but just to meet the partial interests of some groups; it was in a situation where this barrier affected the contact area used to be presented between the city and the sea. To experience the sea, people had to exit the city limits. The extent of damaging this borderline gradually increased, as the sea area was also occupied. Pushing back the sea has become so popular as a creative method under the title of 'land fill' or 'land reclamation'. The authorities tried to manage it extensively and make a 'shoreline retreat' by attracting more funds and moving landward, to get new areas for their activity. This procedure is also imitated by the municipality of port cities in moving seashores. At the far end of the beach, a high wall is built, and by filling the space behind it, a platform overlooking the sea is constructed to consider it as a land area added to the city land. These measures adversely affect people's feeling attached to the sea when they used to experience walking on the beach sands to let the water waves touch their feet. The actions pull people back from 'the sea' area to the 'offshore'; it looks like the authorities are unaware of the damage to the landscape, which used to be the source of inspiration for the residents. The protection of marine civilization is highly dependent on the long-term interaction between humans and the sea. It is not appropriate to extensively occupy the environment, whether willingly or unwillingly, just by exploiting engineering methods.
The journal cover image shows 'Chābahār Port', which represents the active nature of the port, its access way on the coastal edge, and the vast areas dedicated to the port dock. All these actions are interventions in the historical and natural edge of the contact area, between the city and the sea, like a barrier prevents the continuity of the citizens' perception of their land. The material achievements arising from invading this precious gem in exchange for losing opportunities for expanding civilization and continuity of identity are so insignificant that they seem negligible in the macro economy of society.